Alignment

Greetings!

Over the next few weeks I’d like to talk with you about one word that can potentially change your life for the good.

ALIGNMENT: 1. arrangement in a straight line, or in correct or appropriate relative positions. 2. a position of agreement or alliance

Got it? Good! Because this is our word for the year! Going into this new year I believe God wants us standing tall and walking straight because the road to the door of his Kingdom is indeed straight and narrow and if we are going to operate in “Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done” then it is critical that we are in alignment with God and his plan for us, both individually and collectively.

(Pray) As we enter into the new year, how many of you, by show of hands would say that you had a successful year in 2021? Let’s define success as

Success — the accomplishment of an aim or purpose

Some of you may have graduated high school or college, others may have married the person of their dreams.

Maybe you’re celebrating a drama free holiday season or perhaps you’re just excited about being alive this far into the pandemic. That’s exciting right?

I don’t want to take anything away from whatever aim or purpose you’ve accomplished this year so let’s give ourselves a round of applause for all the success we experienced last year.

I think it’s important to set goals in life because goals give us direction. But goals are hard to set when we don’t know exactly where we want to go in life.

If you want to be a lawyer, it doesn’t make since to enroll into a cosmetology school. And if you want to be a medical doctor, you don’t go to law school.

So how does one define success if they don’t know what they want to to?

Well, maybe success isn’t really about what you do as much as it is about who you become. I get that it’s hard to separate what you do from who you are but what if I told you that what you do does not necessarily define who you are as much as who you are reveals what you do?

Perhaps you work a job you don’t like. Maybe you’ve chosen a profession and went to school and earned a degree in a career field that you found out you absolutely hate. That job doesn’t define you. It’s only what you do. But who you are determines how much effort you put into doing what’s right on the job, whether you like it or not.

Who you are is determined by if you show up to work on time. Who you are is determined by the rules you choose to break, or follow. Who you are is revealed in your work ethic, regardless of what you do for a living. Who you are is about what you do when no one else is watching.

That’s who you really are. And so today, as we begin this new series entitled Alignment, I want to encourage us to redefine success. I want to challenge us to look at success in a way that might be different than our friend’s, our parents’, and even our society’s way of seeing it.

Over the next few weeks we are going to learn not what to do, but who to be. We are going to become successful not in just the eyes of men, but in the eyes of God. And we’ll learn from the God-Man, himself, what real success looks like.

Our journey begins in Matthew 4:23-25 “23 Jesus went throughout Galilee, teaching in their synagogues, proclaiming the good news of the kingdom, and healing every disease and sickness among the people. 24 News about him spread all over Syria, and people brought to him all who were ill with various diseases, those suffering severe pain, the demon-possessed, those having seizures, and the paralyzed; and he healed them. 25 Large crowds from Galilee, the Decapolis, Jerusalem, Judea and the region across the Jordan followed him.”

Now, as we continue reading, you’ll notice that the next few verses will repeat a key phrase. “Blessed are the” and “Blessed are those”. Whenever you see those phrases I want you to think of the word, “successful”.

Let’s go!

Matthew 5:1–12 NIV

1 Now when Jesus saw the crowds, he went up on a mountainside and sat down. His disciples came to him, 2 and he began to teach them. He said: 3 “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 4 Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted. 5 Blessed are the meek, for they will inherit the earth. 6 Blessed are those who hunger and thirst for righteousness, for they will be filled. 7 Blessed are the merciful, for they will be shown mercy. 8 Blessed are the pure in heart, for they will see God. 9 Blessed are the peacemakers, for they will be called children of God. 10 Blessed are those who are persecuted because of righteousness, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven. 11 “Blessed are you when people insult you, persecute you and falsely say all kinds of evil against you because of me. 12 Rejoice and be glad, because great is your reward in heaven, for in the same way they persecuted the prophets who were before you.

And this is a big deal to those disciples because as they heard Jesus say this they would have thought about all the prophets who were before them. Moses was before them and he was an Old Testament rock star as it relates to prophets.

Elijah was a big deal too, and so he likely came to mind. Daniel, Isaiah, and Jeremiah all came before their time and endured persecution for God’s sake and now Jesus tells them this great news about this great success that comes with the territory of discipleship and I believe this also applies to us! Perhaps until now, you’ve defined success by what you gain, what you have, and what you will have once you’re paid what is owed to you.

That means houses, money, clothes, cars, stocks and jewelry have defined success. That’s because when we have these things, we tend to catch people’s attention. We hope they speak well of us because we’ve achieved what others dream of having.

But I think we’re wise enough to know that earthly wealth doesn’t stop people from gossiping or speaking evil about you. In fact, the more money you make, the more popular you are, the more haters you are likely to have.

So maybe it doesn’t really matter what other people think of you. Maybe what’s most important is what God thinks and says about you.

And after reading the words of Jesus, I’m finding out that I can be spoken well of by God no matter how much or little money I have. When I’m poor in spirit, God speaks well of me still. When I’m in times of mourning, God speaks well of me still.

When I’m attacked and ridiculed because of my beliefs, and when I’m persecuted because I choose to obey God, I can rejoice and I can be glad because I know that my present sufferings during my visit on earth is not worthy to be compared to the eternal glory that is to come when I see Jesus face to face.

As we prepare for this new year, it is important that we see ourselves as Christ does. Here’s why.

Seeing ourselves the way Christ sees us causes us to come into alignment with His vision for our lives. When we think we deserve the worst because of our past, we punish ourselves by we settling for less.

But Jesus looks at us, and sees us better than our past. He doesn’t define us by our worst or even our last mistakes. Flaws and all he calls us blessed. Broken but blessed. Hurting but blessed.

And here’s the best part about it. Blessed people do blessed things. They don’t have to have a penny in their pocket but folks will think they are rich because they know how to smile through pain.

It’s not about being fake. I can hug you when I’m hurting and love you when I’m angry because when I’m blessed, I’m in alignment with God. That means no matter my lot, come what may, as long as I’m right in the eyes of God, as long as I’m in his will, as long as I’m in alignment, my life is worth living.

Alignment with Christ is about following to the point where I step where he steps, drink what he drank, rest when he rests, and work when and where he’s working.

If I suffer with him, I will reign with him. And that’s a promise not only for me, but for you too. So ladies & gents, Champions and friends, let me encourage you today to get into alignment with Christ. Let me encourage you today to be blessed!